Duskwood: Love's Beginning

24 - Jayna

I was starting to panic. I tapped the "defend" button over and over, and each time the next attack came on faster. Eventually, the attack wasn't blocked and some ominous-looking men wearing ski masks and suits came onto the screen.

What was with all the creepy masked guys?? Seriously. I double-pressed my volume button to record what was happening.

Then they started doing threatening things, like showing me computers with a bunch of indecipherable stuff on the screen. I really wished Jake were seeing this, he would know what to do. Lastly, they pointed at me and I watched, helplessly, as they were trying to connect to my phone's camera. I considered just turning off the damn phone when that screen disappeared and my phone went back to normal. What the...I stopped the recording, and automatically popped in the memory card so I could save the video. My hands shook so hard that I fumbled with the card a few times before I finally sat it properly.

Just as I was starting to calm down, I got a text from Jake. I told him I felt like crying. When he said he was sorry, the tears flowed. I stepped into the bathroom so patients and Lia wouldn't see me. I needed some privacy with this man that I loved.

He kept apologizing, but I don't think he fully understood why I was upset. Yes, it was frightening to have some unknown assailants trying to hack my phone. But what I was really upset about was that he had disappeared. Some half-sent message was the last I heard from him. When the hacking attempts came, I thought only that if they got into my phone, they would find Jake.

It wasn't about what would happen to me. It was what might happen to him.

But he brought up a good point. Why would they come after me to find him? Was it just because we were associated in the video that Lilly made? I was also a little ticked that he hadn't warned me in advance that this might happen. It was yet another secret he had kept from me. I thought we finally had gotten those all out of the way, but apparently not.

He explained that didn't think they would come for me, but they changed plans because of the video. Well, at least he had given me Nymos to help protect what was on my phone. His safety was first priority, so if a little terror on my part allowed him to go into hiding safely, then so be it. Even though I did nothing to help, I still felt proud and glad that Jake had seen what Lilly did for him. But I wanted make sure he knew that his little sister was on his side.

As Jake explained to me how he stopped the attackers, I once again realized how much he was sacrificing. Not just for Hannah, but for me, too. He said I was the only person that he cared about, and that warmed me to my bones. But I knew it wasn't true. He cared about Lilly and Hannah, too. He was the big brother, protecting them both, even if it hurt him. And he was protecting me, too, someone virtually unknown to him.

When I asked Jake where he was, I knew I wouldn't get an answer. But part of me hoped he would tell me that he was somewhere close. That he wanted to see me. I knew it wasn't safe, especially now with these people so hot on his trail. But I could still hope.

No holding back anymore, I decided. I didn't know if each time I had with him would be our last, so I needed to take every chance I could to let him know how much I cared about him. I cried silently as he told me he missed me too and had thought past our current circumstances. Wait, why was he afraid of losing me?

Oh, my poor sweet Jake. He had risked everything to try to protect me and he was afraid I would leave him because of it? Of course I forgave him. He had done nothing wrong. And I was going nowhere. Not without him, anyway.

I reluctantly let Jake go do his thing and closed up the clinic for the night. Right before I was about to leave, I got a text from Jessy. She was working on her own lead, going through old records from the garage. Haha, Jayna Watson and Jessy Holmes. I liked the sound of that.

Sometimes, I felt like we were going nowhere fast. One of these days, I hoped our clues would pan out, and soon. I felt like we were running out of time.